He must have so many questions, having missed much of the first conversation, but in true warrior fashion, was already focused on the most pressing issue at hand: how to save our daughter and the worlds.
Neither of you are dead,” she said. “You can’t be dead and be here in the Origin. Which means you can use the golden line of power to return to your bodies, stronger than ever.” She focused directly on me. “Samantha, you will never be Sammia again. We are gone now, and you are shaped by the life you have experienced since the loss of power. Even if all of your memories return, they’ll be fuzzy, as if they happened to someone else.”
“Will I be able to truly bond with Len?” I asked, unsure what this meant for us.
A single nod. “Absolutely. If you can figure out how to restore your line and stop the darkness seeping into Faerie, you’ll have the chance at something I never did.”
She paused briefly, as if composing herself, before she said, “Happiness.”
Gods, it was all I’d ever wanted. This elusive “happiness.”
I tilted my head to find Len’s eyes on me. “Together we’ll find peace and happiness,” I told him. “I’ll accept nothing less.”
“Agreed,” he rumbled.
Turning back to the memory, I said, “First thing is to restore the Great Queen’s line, and then my power and memories will return. After that, I believe the way to destroy the darkness is together as a pack. There’s a reason the new gods and the old gods are coming together once more.”
“Stronger together,” Len agreed. “We will do what the Origin gods could not.”
The memory nodded and flickered briefly. “Wait,” I called. “How do we return?”
She flickered again. “The same way you got here. Through a rebirth, along the golden line of Faerie.”
It was painful to watch her flicker strongly, until she started to fade before my eyes. This was a goodbye to the me who was also not me. As she’d said, I was no longer Sammia, no longer the Great Queen of Faerie.
“Wait, how did you have a shifter mate?” Len asked suddenly when she was almost gone.
Her laughter echoed around us. “We didn’t. I created the false bond as part of the spell. I wanted to have a strong mate and blend in with the shifters. But that was never to be. A true mate will always best any magic. Even from an Origin. Now take our world back.”
When she was gone for good, I felt lighter and sadder at the same time. The memory version of me had finished her task and was released into the great energy of the Origin.
Gone forever.
“Winter,” I said softly, since he was still staring at the spot she’d been. “You okay?”
Despite the crystals covering his face, hiding most of his expression, I saw his lips twitch. “Never been better. Got my girl back, she’s an Origin god, and we need to save the worlds again. Just an average day for our pack.”
“Wasan Origin god,” I told him. “You heard the memory. One, we’re weaker now. Two, I’m no longer Sammia.”
His lips definitely twitched before he smiled. “Once you break the final glamour, you’ll understand that even weakened you’re still one of the most powerful being in the worlds. If anyone says otherwise, we can fry their asses.”
A snort of laughter escaped me. “Great, we’ve already gone mad with power, and we’ve only had it for three minutes.”
He surprised the shit out of me when he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. There was a rough texture of crystals, and while I couldn’t taste him, I could feel the slide of our mouths together, and the surge of our energy that followed. “I lost you,” he whispered against my mouth. “Again.I almost brought Faerie down in my rage,again,but thankfully I was reminded that we don’t die easily. The hope that you were waiting for me somewhere kept me moving forward, and saved the damn worlds.”
“I’d end the worlds for you too,” I told him, having already figured out who I was now. “And since I might eventually have the power to do just that, we better hope nothing ever happens to you or Tabby.” Or our other friends.
Speaking of, it was time to figure out how to leave our little bubble ofalmost deadand head back into the real world.
We had some shit to deal with.
47
SAMANTHA
“It should be easier to return,” Len said as we moved toward the edge of the sphere. “Since we’re not technically dead, our souls will want to find their vessels.”
“Mine is at the bottom of a coal pit,” I said with a grimace. “And I don’t have my powers unlocked yet to bust out of there.”
